Retail salaries increase 3.1% in February

The retail sector recorded strong year-on-year pay growth in February, with salaries rising by 3.1%, according to independent job site CV-Library.

Month-on-month growth was also strong, up 4.5%, making the industry one of a few to see a jump in pay.

Job vacancies in retail also recorded an increase, rising 1.2% against February 2016, which, according to CV-Library, confirms that firms across the sector are remaining confident.

“With businesses keen to attract only the best candidates to their job roles, it’s positive to see that companies are pushing their salaries up in order to offer competitive pay packages to recruits,” said CV-Library founder and managing director Lee Biggins.

“With more and more organisations putting out job adverts, competition to attract skilled workers is fierce. The offering of strong pay packages is clearly one tactic that companies in the retail sector are using in an effort to stay one step ahead of their competition.”

Despite these positive findings, job applications in the retail sector fell during February, down by 15.7% year on year and by 18.1% month on month. CV-Library said this is “not entirely unusual”, given that January is always a busier month for recruitment.